Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-02-18
STATEHOOD SCHEME.
Details Of a Plan for Making 1--WE
States Of Dakota, Without the
Authority Of Congress

The Hugh j.. Campbell Idea In New Form
The Movement to He Pressed Upon
the Territorial Legislature ut
the Present Session.
lYankton Press and Dakotaian.l
1t has become a we'll established conclusion
among close students of the Statehood prob
lem that the Legislature of our Territory is
possessed of the power to habilitate the State.
The Legislature operates under q grant OF
power from Congress, which ~legalizes it's acts
IN advance and gives them vitality from the
moment of their creation. Laws enacted by
the Legislature of Dakota are binding upon all
persons, officers as we'll as citizens, from the
President of the United States down to the con-
force until repealed blythe power which Gre
ates them. annulled by act of Congress or SET
aside by the Courts.
The Legislature Of Dakota therefore pos
sesses the power to create the State, through
the agency of the people. It can empower the
representatives of the people 70 meet in con-
stltutlonal convention and adopt q constitution,
subject to ratification by a vote of the people.
1t can pass laws directing certain officers of
tho territory fal officers not appointed by the
Az u tuIH UNGT Gu6H OnC0S. ana Tile
public funds, to the officers of the State upon
a specified day when the officers of the State
shall be ready to exercise the functions of
their respective positions. It can direct
County Treasurers to remit all collections to
the State Treasurer, and can authorize the
transfer of judicial proceedings to the juris-
diction of the State. The transfer Of official
authority and Of public funds from the Terri
tor1al officers to the duly elected and qualified
officers Of the State is all there is In q change
| from n Torrsfnrso0 oNrIsks1- - . 70
statehood This transfer the Legislature of
Dakota has the undoubted power to order and
direct and provide by law. And such action
on the part Of the Territorial Legislature would
s ssida b as th Jaw count, until y r W%;,a q ann9lle ed Or s.s set
could be created, and after the State is Gre
ated there is no authority, excepting that Of
ated,
Ii the Legislature Of the Territory of Da-
now before the people of this Territory and
exercise it's undoubted power in the premises,
1t can, through the process Of constitutional
law, place in operrtion one or two State Gov
rnments upon the soil of Dakota, and in thus
habitating State Government and discontinue
ing Territorial Government it can avoid all
clash or conflict of jurisdiction and any incon-
v%enience or embarrassment to the public. All
that is required to accomplish this is to pass
m act dlscontinuing the Territorial Offices of
AAOuouAVA1 AuOltOI, superintendent OF IN
struction, Assistant Superintendent of Instruc-
ton, Acknowledgement, Acknowledgement,
Commissioner of immigration, and the various
lesser places, and directing their incumbents
to turn over public property to their success
sors under the State organization. receiving re-
ceipts therefor, which receipts may constitute
a release of the bondsmen of the Territorial
officers.
In contemplating a proposition in behalf of
action OF such decisive nature the Legisla-
l $p,S n nnS %h1, AL ,I~-,.J1 - R-.--A M l.
law which governs in so important a matter
as the transfer of the power of self
government to half a million Of people is fun
damental, not statutory, and that there is no
law, either fundamental or statutory, to cast
the slightest impediment in the way Of such q
proceeding. Congress never has, never will
and never can create an enactment prohibiting
100000 American citizens, inhabitihng 15O,OUO
square miles of area, from taking upon them
selves the powers and privileges of self-gov-
eminent under the constitution and laws of
the United States.
States thus created would be nothing less
than States within the Union. There is no
other place for them. 1t has been decided by
the supreme Court, and is a we'll established
principle, that this Territory is now and al
ways Will be an integral part Of the Union.
States created out of the Territorial domain
could therefore be nothing less than States
within the Union, as the process of local gov
ornamental change, under the fundamental law
| VI llhV OlIlOil,G Cu1l III lO VIE remove LlCIl
from the alliance to which they belong and of
which they are and always will he a part The
difference between these States and the other
GLASS of States might be that while both classef
were in the Union one class would be granted
equal vote in Congress, while the other class
would be temporarily denied any vote. This
could occur for sectional and political reasons
only, and would have no effect upon the con-
stitutional standing of the new States.
In the light of these conclusions it has been
1 nd l~y $1,o - IL \ 49,
within Dakota to unite in a request to the Leg
islature to enact a law which shall authorize
and convene constitutional conventions for
both North Dakota and South Dakota, with the
purpose of organizing two States and two
State Governments, under the State names of
North Dakota and South Dakota, placing the
dividing line between the two States along the
seventh standard parallel. The Legislature
will be asked to make full provision for these
two constitutional conventions and to create
such laws as will enable the two States to pass
into actual existence without inconvenience
and without any conflict of jurisdiction. o.
authority betwee the Government o: the
States and the Government of the serrltory
they are to supersede. To this e-d tne Legs
lature will be asked to make s!ll provision by
law for putting in mcAon the machinery Of
Statehood Government in each of the proposed
States.
The movement it is now proposed to inau-
gurate is based upon these facts and conciu-
sions:
A great majority in both North and South
Dakota favor the admission into the Union of
two States to he created from the domaino of
Dakota.
The demand for the Division of Dakota and
the creation of two States is justified by area,
population, wealth, internal resources and
governmental necessities.
Q The future interests of the millions who are
to inhabit the proposed two Dakotas demand
this solution of the statehood problem.
The future interests of the great Northwest
enter the consideration of this case. There is
a political and sectional demand that our terri
torial empire of 15O,CO square miles, equaling
in extent the whole of New England and the
States Of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
IN all, should secure at least four Senator's to
help Offset the twenty-four allowed the States
enumerated.
The Territory of Dakota now contains over
half q million people and with it's area of arabic
Possessing an area nearly equal to that of
the Atlantic States, capable of sustaining, a
population of one hundred to the square mile
fifteen million people-it would be gross in
justice to compel Dakota to accept only two
SENATOR'S AGAINST the fhirty-two allowed tho